22 to 29 November 2015
Next stop was Santa Marta, up north again at the Caribbean Sea. I had booked four nights in an all inclusive resort with time share points I have plenty of. Plan was to chill and catch up with the blog. But there was a better alternative: my good friend Latoya from London came out to see me and celebrate her birthday with me.
We spent the first day in a hotel in the centre of Santa Marta and visited most culturally interesting places like the Gold Museum. It’s collection is diminutive in comparison to the Museo de Oro in Bogota, but it offers an excellent exhibition about the history of the city and region in Spanish and (!) English.
The resort where we moved on the second day was unfortunately further away from everything than expected. It was a good thing, taxis are so cheap in Colombia. I still liked it though: we had a spacious two bedroom, two bathroom apartment with balcony, where we drank the last bit of my Cuban rum and talked till late. I went for early morning runs at the beach which was deserted apart from a few fishermen. I changed the swimming in the sea for the large pool, when I got bitten by something in the sea. It must have been a jellyfish, but I didn’t have any sensation of touch just that of painful stinging. I left the water immediately in slight panic. On Wednesday, we spent the day lazing at the pool, drinking caipirinhas, before we went for dinner at El Rodadero, the tourist beach area of Santa Marta.
We went on day trips to Cartagena and Aracataca. In Cartagena I had a refresher of the history of the town centre and also visited the massive fortress with its view of the town and sea. I still didn’t manage to find the jewellery store that dad and I had searched for so systematically during our time there!
As opposed to the day before, when we went on an organised group tour, we did Aracataca on our own. Latoya had researched how to get there by public transport, which was much cheaper and more enjoyable. Aracataca is a sleepy town in the back country of Santa Marta. If it wasn’t for its famous son, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, I doubt any tourist would ever find its way there. The train has long stopped transporting passengers there and now only passes with loud announcement to get the coal to the coast.
Aracataca is model for Marquez’ Maconda in ‘One Hundred Years of Solitude’. Now that I am finally reading the book, I think back about it a lot and place the book’s actions and heroes in its environment. Above all in the house of Marquez’ grandparents, where he grew up in the first six years of his life. It is now an interesting museum, also in both Spanish and English, in which the former home becomes alive. It makes important connections between the real world in which Marquez grew up and the dream world he creates in his novel.
That evening, Latoya and I had a lovely dinner on the terrace of the Chucho Blue restaurant overlooking the El Rodadero bay. Two of the waiters took us dancing afterwards once they had finished their shift. They had noted our dance moves during dinner to the Latino and RnB songs the restaurant was playing that evening. We were the first and last on the dance floor that night. At 12 midnight, the bar played ‘Happy Birthday’ for Latoya and all sang along and clapped.
There was more dancing the following night, when we went out in Santa Marta Historic Centre. We had moved there to a beautiful boutique hotel for Latoya’s birthday. After some Free Reading time at the pool, we ate at a small restaurant, whose guests were mainly friends and family of the two men band that was playing that evening. After that we moved to Charlie’s bar where Charlie himself asked us in. I owed him a Long Island Ice Tea because I didn’t believe that the wifi passport was ‘I love you’. We met him again later in the roof top club.
On our last day together, Latoya and I walked through the historic centre. The little museum with religious art that we wanted to see was closed. But on our way there we found a nice restaurant where all the locals had lunch that Saturday. Finally, after a brilliant week it was time to say good bye. Sad to see you go, Latoya! I am looking forward to lots of activities and dancing when I am back in London. Thanks so much for coming out to celebrate your birthday with me!
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lisaimwunderland.com 
Hallo Lisa,bin gespannt,ob du nach den vielen Eindrücken dich wieder bei uns wohlfühlen wirst.
Eine Reise ist aus meiner Sicht dann sinnvoll gewesen,wenn sie uns in irgend einer Weise verändert hat.
Liebe Grüße
Rudolf
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Hallo Lisa,
eine Reise ist – aus meiner Sicht – dann sinnvoll verlaufen,wenn sie uns in irgend einer Weise verändert hat.
Liebe Grüße u. viel Spaß weiterhin
Rudolf
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